A New Supercontinent Is Forming On Earth – Teach Me About Science

Photo credit: Walter Myers | Getty Images/iStockPhoto

Earth is a planet, a living planet that has remained unchanged since its inception and never ceases to evolve or change. Soon, a new supercontinent is about to form on Earth.

Continents, as we know them, were formed by the movements of the earth's crust, which, with their changes, led to enormous land masses now containing numerous nations and peoples. Earth is made up of many layers, all of which have different compositions.

For example, the layers found deep inside the Earth are liquid because the temperature in those depths of the planet is much higher than at the surface. The surface layers of the Earth are solid and their temperature is very low like the lithosphere.

Continents are located in the lithosphere; It extends from 50 to 280 km below the Earth's surface. Although the lithosphere is thought to be very thick, this layer of the Earth “floats” on the inner layers, which causes the continents to move rather than stay in place.

As proof of this, due to the movements of the layers of our planet such as Pangea, Laurasia, Euramerica and Gondwana, in the past, there were supercontinents on Earth. These are formed by the movement of tectonic plates.

Because of these past events, there is a chance that a supercontinent will form again within a certain period of time, so scientists from Curtin and Peking Universities entered the data into a high-tech simulator that revealed the point at which Earth would be hit. This size change and again there is one of these supercontinents.

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According to the data provided by this technology, this possible event will occur about 200 million years from now, when the two existing continents (America and Asia) will merge to form a new supercontinent called “Amazea”.

Image credit: Curtin University

One of the consequences of this event was the closing of the Pacific Ocean, meaning it would no longer exist. Although it is not much noticed, this fact was already expected, because every year, the Pacific Ocean reduces its size.

According to a study published in the journal National Science ReviewThe formation of this supercontinent suggests that the Earth would undergo a drastic change, as sea levels would be much lower, and the interior of Amasia would be much drier, with greater diurnal temperature fluctuations. liberation Zheng-Xiang Li is a co-author of the study and a professor in the School of Earth and Planetary Sciences.

“Right now, the Earth is made up of seven continents with very different ecosystems and human cultures, so it's fascinating to think about what the world will look like in 200 or 300 million years.” Done.

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Misty Tate

"Freelance twitter advocate. Hardcore food nerd. Avid writer. Infuriatingly humble problem solver."

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